Young Runners

Have you read the piece in the Times yesterday on the two young girls who are making headlines in the half marathon distance?

Two sisters, aged ten and twelve, were on the front page of the sports section, with the question posed, “too much, too soon?” in reference to whether or not it was a “good idea for children this young to be competing in a race this tough”? (The race was held near the Great Salt Lake and hit an elevation high of 7,300 feet.).

Throughout the article, there are references to different races and their age minimums (a runner must be 18 to run the NY Marathon, but the LA Marathon had 500 under- 18 finishers last year), questions about whether this type of activity will “put too much stress on young kids’ growth plates” as well as if the distance is excessive.

Please.

If a child wants to run, let them run.

Granted, if it were a scenario where the child didn’t want to run and was being forced to by their parents or coach, of course, that’s a completely different story.

Running is one of the most natural things we can do, and I, for one, think it’s absolutely fantastic to read about these two young stars.

What’s next? A judgement that toddlers shouldn’t be playing on the jungle gym because “they might get hurt”?

In a country where the overweight rate is 60% and growing, how can we possibly have an issue with kids wanting to move?